Mobile communication terminal having a direct dial function using call history and method for performing the function

ABSTRACT

A mobile communication terminal call history displays call distinguishing icons representing the types of calls performed with counterparts. The call types include sent and received voice calls, video calls, and messages. If a user selects one call distinguishing icon displayed on a mobile communication terminal&#39;s display unit, a voice call or a video call is sent to the counterpart or a screen on which a message can be written to the counterpart is displayed, according to the call type of the selected call distinguishing icon. The user can directly select a counterpart and the call type to be sent to the counterpart by selecting one of the call distinguishing icons displayed on the display unit. A desired call distinguishing icon can be selected by entering a command on a touch screen, a keypad, or by voice command.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 10-2008-0052642, filed on Jun. 4, 2008, which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal havinga direct dial function using a call history and a method for performingthe function, and more particularly, to a mobile communication terminalhaving a direct dial function in accordance with a call type selected bya user and a method for performing the function.

2. Discussion of the Background

In the conventional latest call history providing function provided by amobile communication terminal, if the mobile communication terminalsends or receives a voice call, a video call, or a message, informationabout the call, for example, sender information, receiver information,call connecting time, call time, message send time, and messagereception time may be stored in a memory. Then, in response to a latestcall history search, the latest call history stored in the memory isread to provide the latest call history to the terminal user.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a conventional latest call historydisplayed on a mobile communication terminal. As illustrated in FIG. 1,the latest call history displays call distinguishing icons that have anappearance to match the call characteristics, for example, an icon 101that represents a sent voice call, an icon 102 that represents areceived voice call, an icon 103 that represents a missed voice call, anicon 104 that represents a sent video call, an icon 105 that representsa received video call, an icon 106 that represents a missed video call,an icon 107 that represents a sent message, and an icon 108 thatrepresents a received message, can be displayed in. In addition, thenickname or telephone number of the counterpart who sent the call or towhom the call was sent is displayed.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, however, since the latest call history issequentially displayed chronologically, information about calls to orfrom the same counterpart may be spaced apart.

Further, in the conventional mobile communication terminal, if the userselects the telephone number (or nickname) of a counterpart from thelatest call history and then presses a button for responding, theconventional mobile communication terminal dials the number of thecounterpart's terminal corresponding to the selected telephone number(or nickname).

However, if the user wishes to perform a video call, not a voice call,or tries to send a message, the user has to select a menu item forperforming video call dialing or a menu item for creating a message.

Therefore, in the related art, the user cannot directly perform thevideo call with the desired counterpart and cannot directly send a shortmessage service (SMS) message or a multimedia messaging service (MMS)message using the latest call history.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background and therefore it maycontain information that does not form the existing art that is alreadyknown in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention provides a mobile communication terminal having a directdialing function using a call history so that a video call or a messagecan be more quickly performed by selecting an icon from the latest callhistory, and a method thereof.

Additional features of the invention will be set forth in thedescription which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The present invention discloses a mobile communication terminal having adirect dialing function, including a display unit to display a latestcall history including a first call distinguishing icon corresponding toa first counterpart, the first call distinguishing icon being a videocall icon or a message icon; a memory unit to store call historyinformation generated if a voice call, a video call, or a message issent from or received by the mobile communication terminal, telephonebook information, and the latest call history; and a controller togenerate a video call or a message corresponding to the type of thefirst call distinguishing icon if the first call distinguishing icon isselected.

The present invention also discloses a method for performing a directdialing function, including displaying a call history including a firstcall distinguishing icon corresponding to a first counterpart on adisplay unit of a mobile communication terminal, the first calldistinguishing icon comprising a video call icon or a message icon;selecting the first call distinguishing icon; and generating a videocall or a message corresponding to the type of the first calldistinguishing icon to the first counterpart.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional latest call history displayed on amobile communication terminal.

FIG. 2 illustrates the latest call history displayed by a mobilecommunication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the structure of a mobile communicationterminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing directdialing using the latest call history according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown.This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure isthorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes oflayers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. Like referencenumerals in the drawings denote like elements.

Specifically, reference will now be made in detail to a mobilecommunication terminal for providing a direct dialing function using thelatest call history and a method thereof according to variousembodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and described below.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the structure of a mobile communicationterminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, a display unit 10 displays an image on a screen in accordancewith the operation of the mobile communication terminal under thecontrol of a controller 30. For example, the display unit 10 may includea touch screen on an upper surface of the mobile communication terminal,and the terminal user's selection information may be received throughthe touch screen and then sent to the controller 30.

A memory unit 20 stores the call history information generated if avoice call, a video call, or a message is sent or received. Hereinafter,the use of the term “message” shall include either a short messageservice (SMS) message or a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message,without limitation. The memory unit 20 also stores the telephone bookinformation (also commonly known as contact information) received fromthe terminal user, and the latest call history updated in associationwith the telephone book information if the call history information isgenerated.

The controller 30 generates the call history information if the voicecall, the video call, or the message is sent or received, stores thegenerated call history information in the memory unit 20, and updatesthe latest call history with reference to the telephone book informationif the call history information is generated. In addition, if theterminal user requests a display of the latest call history, thecontroller 30 reads the latest call history stored in the memory unit 20and distinguishes the latest call history by a counterpart to displaythe latest call history distinguished by a counterpart on the displayunit 10.

FIG. 2 illustrates the latest call history displayed by a mobilecommunication terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention. As illustrated in FIG. 2, voice call information,video call information, and message (SMS or MMS) send and receptioninformation by a counterpart are displayed on the display unit 10together with counterpart information (such as a telephone number and anickname) using call distinguishing icons.

Here, the call distinguishing icons displayed with the counterpartinformation may be voice call icons that represent a sent voice call, areceived voice call, or a missed voice call, video call icons thatrepresent a sent video call, a received video call, or a missed videocall, and message icons that represent a sent message or a receivedmessage.

The call distinguishing icons in accordance with the type of callsperformed with the corresponding counterparts are displayed togetherwith the counterpart information based on the call history informationstored in the memory unit 20. For example, in FIG. 2, if the terminaluser sent only voice calls to the counterpart whose counterpartinformation (such as the nickname and title of the counterpart) is setas “Department Manager”, only a sent voice call icon 201 is displayedtogether with the counterpart information on “Department Manager”. Ifthe terminal user sent video calls to and received messages and voicecalls from the counterpart whose counterpart information is set as “MyPretty Sister”, a received message icon 202, a sent video call icon 203,and a received voice call icon 204 are displayed together with thecounterpart information on “My Pretty Sister”.

If the terminal user selects one call distinguishing icon thatrepresents a desired type of call work among the call distinguishingicons related to a specific counterpart from the latest call history,the controller 30 performs the call work corresponding to the calldistinguishing icon selected by the terminal user.

For example, in FIG. 2, if the terminal user selects the sent video callicon 203 among the received message icon 202, the sent video call icon203, and the received voice call icon 204 displayed together with thecounterpart information on “My Pretty Sister”, a video call is generatedand sent to the telephone number of “My Pretty Sister”. In addition, inFIG. 2, if the terminal user touches or selects the sent voice call icon201 displayed together with the counterpart information on “DepartmentManager”, a voice call is generated and sent to the telephone number of“Department Manager”. In addition, in FIG. 2, if the terminal usertouches and selects a sent message icon 206 from the sent message icon206 and the sent voice call icon 205 displayed together with counterpartinformation on “My Mother”, a message creating screen is generated andprovided with the telephone number of “My Mother” displayed as areceiving telephone number or provided with an email address of “MyMother” displayed as a receiving address.

The mobile communication terminal may include other components such as awireless sending and reception processing unit, a voice processing unit,and a key input unit, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing directdialing using the latest call history according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention

First, the terminal user requests to search the latest call history(S10). The controller 30 reads the latest call history stored in thememory unit 20, distinguishes the read latest call history bycounterpart, and displays the voice call information, the video callinformation, and the message send and reception informationdistinguished by counterpart on the display unit 10 together with thecounterpart information (the telephone number or nickname) using thecounterpart distinguishing icons (S12).

If the terminal user wishes to perform a voice call or a video call witha counterpart in the latest call history or wishes to send a message tothe corresponding counterpart, the terminal user selects the calldistinguishing icon of the call type that the terminal user wishes toperform with the corresponding counterpart from among the calldistinguishing icons displayed together with the correspondingcounterpart information. That is, referring back to FIG. 2, if theterminal user wishes to perform a voice call with the counterpart whosecounterpart information is “My Pretty Sister”, the received voice callicon 204 is selected from among the call distinguishing icons 202, 203,and 204 displayed together with the counterpart information on “MyPretty Sister”. If the terminal user wishes to perform a video call withthe counterpart whose counterpart information is “My Pretty Sister”, thesent video call icon 203 is selected from among the counterpartdistinguishing icons 202, 203, and 204 displayed together with thecounterpart information on “My Pretty Sister”. If the terminal userwishes to send a message to the counterpart whose counterpartinformation is “My Pretty Sister”, the received message icon 202 isselected from among the counterpart distinguishing icons 202, 203, and204 displayed together with the counterpart information on “My PrettySister”.

The call distinguishing icons may be selected by, for example, a keyinput unit, a touch screen provided in the mobile communicationterminal, or by vocal command. If the terminal user selects the calldistinguishing icons by the touch screen, the terminal user touches thesurface of the display unit 10 in a region corresponding to the calldistinguishing icon for the corresponding counterpart.

If the terminal user selects a call distinguishing icon displayedtogether with the counterpart information for a counterpart in thelatest counterpart history (S14), the controller 30 of the terminaldetermines whether the selected call distinguishing icon is a voice callicon (S16).

If the selected call distinguishing icon is the voice call icon, a voicecall is sent using the counterpart information displayed together withthe selected voice call icon (S18).

For example, in FIG. 2, if the terminal user touches and selects thereceived voice call icon 204 from among the call distinguishing icons202, 203, and 204 displayed together with the counterpart information on“My Pretty Sister”, a voice call is sent to the terminal correspondingto “My Pretty Sister” using the telephone number of “My Pretty Sister”.

On the other hand, if the selected call distinguishing icon is not thevoice call icon, it is determined whether the selected calldistinguishing icon is a video call icon (S20).

If the selected call distinguishing icon is the video call icon, a videocall is sent using the counterpart information displayed together withthe selected video call icon (S22).

For example, in FIG. 2, if the terminal user touches and selects thesent video call icon 203 from among the call distinguishing icons 202,203, and 204 displayed together with the counterpart information on “MyPretty Sister”, a video call is sent to the terminal corresponding to“My Pretty Sister” using the telephone number of “My Pretty Sister”.

On the other hand, if the selected call distinguishing icon is not thevideo call icon, the selected call distinguishing icon is a messageicon, and a message creating screen is provided with the counterpartinformation, such as telephone number or electronic mail address, set asreceiving information (S24).

For example, in FIG. 2, if the terminal user touches and selects thereceived message icon 202 from among the call distinguishing icons 202,203, and 204 displayed together with the counterpart information on “MyPretty Sister”, a message creating screen is provided with thecounterpart information, such as telephone number of the terminalcorresponding to “My Pretty Sister” or electronic mail address, set asreceiving information.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A mobile communication terminal having a direct dialing functioncomprising: a display unit to display a latest call history comprisingcall distinguishing icons corresponding to a first counterpart arrangedin a chronological order according to call history information, the calldistinguishing icons comprising video call, message, and voice callicons; a memory unit to store the call history information generatedwhen a voice call, a video call, or a message is sent from or receivedby the mobile communication terminal; and a controller to generate avideo call or a message according to the type of the first calldistinguishing icon when the first call distinguishing icon is selected.2. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the latest callhistory further comprises a second call distinguishing iconcorresponding to the first counterpart, the second call distinguishingicon comprising a voice call icon, the video call icon, or the messageicon.
 3. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1, wherein the firstcall distinguishing icon is selected by receiving a user command on asurface of the display unit in a region corresponding to the first calldistinguishing icon.
 4. The mobile communication terminal of claim 1,wherein the first call distinguishing icon is selected by a commandreceived from key input unit provided in the mobile communicationterminal or by a verbal command.
 5. The mobile communication terminal ofclaim 2, wherein the controller sends a voice call to the firstcounterpart when the voice call icon is selected, sends a video call tothe first counterpart when the video call icon is selected, and providesa screen on which a message can be written to the first counterpart whenthe message icon is selected.
 6. The mobile communication terminal ofclaim 2, wherein the latest call history further comprises a third calldistinguishing icon corresponding to a second counterpart, the thirdcall distinguishing icon comprising the voice call icon, the video callicon, or the message icon.
 7. A method for performing a direct dialingfunction comprising: displaying a call history comprising calldistinguishing icons corresponding to a first counterpart arranged in achronological order according to call history information on a displayunit of a mobile communication terminal, the first call distinguishingicons comprising video call, message, and voice call icons; selectingthe first call distinguishing icon; and generating a video call or amessage according to the type of the first call distinguishing icon tothe first counterpart.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the callhistory further includes a second call distinguishing icon correspondingto the first counterpart on the display unit, the second calldistinguishing icon comprising a voice call icon, the video call icon,or the message icon.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting thefirst call distinguishing icon comprises touching a surface of thedisplay unit in a region corresponding to the first call distinguishingicon.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting the first calldistinguishing icon comprises entering a command to a key input unit inthe mobile communication terminal or speaking a verbal command.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein generating the video call or the messagecomprises: sending the video call to the first counterpart when thefirst call distinguishing icon is the video call icon; and providing ascreen on which a message can be written to a counterpart when the firstcall distinguishing icon is the message icon.
 12. The method of claim 8,wherein the call history further includes a third call distinguishingicon corresponding to a second counterpart on the display unit, thethird call distinguishing icon comprising the voice call icon, the videocall icon, or the message icon.
 13. A mobile communication terminalhaving a direct dialing function comprising: a display unit to displaymultiple call distinguishing icons corresponding to a first counterparton a first portion of a first row and to display counterpart informationof the first counterpart on a second portion of the first row, themultiple call distinguishing icons being arranged in a chronologicalorder according to call history information and comprising video call,message, and voice call icons; a memory unit to store the call historyinformation of the first counterpart when a voice call, a video call, ora message is sent from, or received by the mobile communication terminalin association with the first counterpart; and a controller to generatea video call or a message to the first counterpart according to the typeof a corresponding call distinguishing icon when one of the multiplecall distinguishing icon is selected.
 14. The method of claim 13,wherein the first portion comprises multiple sub-columns, and thedisplay unit displays the multiple call distinguishing icons on each ofthe multiple sub-columns, respectively.
 15. The method of claim 13,wherein the first portion is a first column of the first row and thesecond portion is a second column of the first row.
 16. The method ofclaim 13, wherein the multiple call distinguishing icons comprise thevideo call icon, the message icon, and a voice call icon, the voice callicon is a sent voice call icon, a received voice call icon, or a missedvoice call icon, the video call icon is a sent video call icon, areceived video call icon, or a missed video call icon, and the messageicon is a sent message icon, or a received message icon.
 17. The methodof claim 13, wherein the first portion is updated by call historyinformation of the first counterpart when a voice call, a video call, ora message corresponding to the first counterpart is sent from, receivedby, or missed by the mobile communication terminal, and the display unitdisplays the call history information of the first counterpart on thefirst portion of the first row and on the second portion of the firstrow.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein the first portion and thesecond portion is updated by call history information of a secondcounterpart when a voice call, a video call, or message corresponding tothe second counterpart is sent from, received by, or missed by themobile communication terminal, and the display unit displays the callhistory information of the second counterpart in the first portion ofthe first row and in the second portion of the first row.
 19. The methodof claim 18, wherein the display unit displays the multiple calldistinguishing icons corresponding to the first counterpart on each ofmultiple sub-columns of a first portion of a second row, respectively,and displays first counterpart information of the first counterpart in asecond portion of the second row.